


i don't mind (you coming here)

by sinistar



Category: Super Sentai Series, 快盗戦隊ルパンレンジャー VS 警察戦隊パトレンジャー | Kaitou Sentai Lupinranger VS Keisatsu Sentai Patoranger
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon Compliant, Denial of Feelings, Feelings Realization, Fluff, Hospitals, Light Angst, M/M, Set in episode 15, Teasing, they are both awkward and dumb and i love them
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-30
Updated: 2019-06-30
Packaged: 2020-05-31 12:23:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,712
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19425916
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sinistar/pseuds/sinistar
Summary: Kairi lifts a hand, and he isn’t sure why, but there is this overwhelming urge to touch the glass separating him from Keiichirou.-In which Kairi enters Keiichirou's hospital room, and what happens a week later.





	i don't mind (you coming here)

**Author's Note:**

> im only halfway through lunpinranger and im honestly like floored with emotions for these two. i couldn't NOT write something for them like ASAP, and i watched episode 15 the other day and it make me feel so many things.. also, that ep where kairi said "did you come here to check up on me" Really played a part in this too because i cannot STOP thinking about that moment.
> 
> also, what even is their ship name? I call them red2 because it's just cute :/
> 
> anyways, thank you! enjoy reading. ♥

Kairi isn’t expecting to see the other red guy in such a state. Sneaking off was simply that—to sneak off, and quickly, he finds that his words are back to kick him in the ass, much like always.

_Why do I have to visit some stupid cops?_

Keiichirou looks terrible, honestly. His chest is heaving, his face is ten shades lighter, his eyelids are darkened and the lighting in the hospital doesn’t help flatter him in any way possible. Kairi thinks, for a moment, that he looks much like a ghost.

It sends a shiver down his spine.

Kairi lifts a hand, and he isn’t sure why, but there is this overwhelming urge to touch the glass separating him from Keiichirou.

“Kairi… kun?”

He blinks, pulled from his thoughts. Kairi turns only to see Tsukasa, bandaged and bruised, limping toward him.

“What brings you here?”

Kairi turns to face her, heat spreading across his face because it was as if he got caught doing something he wasn’t supposed to be doing. _How fitting, for a thief,_ he thinks. “Uh—well… I heard you all were in the hospital…” he explains, eyes darting to every corner of the tiny corridor. Kairi just then notices how this looked: just him, in front of Keiichirou’s room, _alone._ “I—I came with Umika,” he adds quickly.

Tsukasa looks at him wearily, a slow nod following suit.

_You don’t look as terrible as him,_ Kairi thinks. “But…” he opens his mouth, willing the words that want to come out down. _How could you let this happen to him?_ is on the tip of his tongue, however… “What happened to him?” leaves his mouth.

“He was poisoned…”

Kairi’s heart sinks, and he finds that he hates the feeling.

“He refused to abort the mission,” Tsukasa explains. Kairi glances toward her, and when he sees that her expression is blank, he feels a little better.

“Poison?” The word is heavy on his tongue.

Tsukasa nods, her brows drawing together as he looks through the glass at her comrade. “Keiichirou… doesn’t know how to put on the breaks, sometimes.”

“I don’t get it,” he says blatantly. Kairi can feel his heart speed along with the rise of his frustration. “It’s just his job. Why would he go that far?”

“It’s… a job that insures everyone can smile in peace.” Tsukasa turns to look at Kairi, and he sees this strange, _knowing_ look in her eyes that makes the fine hairs all over his body stand on end. “Don’t you get what that means?” She turns away from him, and Kairi continues to witness something strange; her expression morphs into something like desperation, and when she opens her mouth, she says, “K…Keiichirou…” before she winces, the arm that isn’t in a sling clutching at her side.

“H-Hey…” he mumbles, his thoughts going a mile a minute, “you should… go back…”

Tsukasa hunches over, her breaths labored. It looks as if she wants to speak more, but as sweat drips down her temple, she nods her head and gives a weary laugh. “Y-You’re right. I should go back.”

“Uh—“ Kairi was never sure what to do in these situations. He shifts from foot to foot, eyes darting from where Keiichirou laid and to where Tsukasa shakes beside him. Kairi extends an arm half-heartedly, leaving it in mid-air, something like an offer. “Do you… want help?”

She scoffs, but there is a smile on her face as she shakes her head, looking through the glass pointedly. “No. I will be fine on my own. Thank you, Kairi-kun.”

“ _Je t’en prie_ …” Kairi lets his hand drop, watching as she turns slowly, limping down the corridor and turning down the hall. He sighs, brows narrowed as he focuses his attention back on Keiichirou. Kairi looks left and right, tip-toeing to each hall to check for anyone coming or going before entering the cramped room where the other red guy was wired up.

The smell of antiseptic burns at the back of his throat—it was always unpleasant, and Kairi wonders why this time, it is _extremely_ so. He pauses at the foot of the bed, heart pounding a mile a minute because he is completely and absolutely _certain_ that he doesn’t know what in the hell he is doing, right now. Kairi takes a step to the right, fingertips trailing along the linen of the sheets.

“Keii…chan.”

Unsurprisingly, Keiichirou doesn’t respond. Kairi hates the fact that he is disappointed.

He narrows his eyes, leaning down, shifting his hand so he’s able to place it on the other’s chest—the rise and fall is still very apparent, and his heartbeat is almost too slow, too languid. Kairi wonders just how long the poison has been in his system and how much longer Keiichirou’s body will be able to handle it.

Kairi tells himself to leave—honestly, he does. _Leave. Now. Someone will come. You shouldn’t be here. What if Tsukasa comes back? What if the green guy comes around? Leave. Kairi. Leave._ But, he’s never been good at listening, even to himself. He relaxes the hand on Keiichirou’s chest, biting the insides of his cheeks because _his heartbeat is too soft._

“Who do you think you are?” Kairi asks.

The machines beep in response.

Kairi scoffs, leaning down, shoving the emotion that wells in his chest when he hears the light wheezing from behind the oxygen mask. “You can’t die yet, Patoranger.”

“Nn…”

As if shocked, Kairi snatches his hand back quickly. His heart seems to race faster, and if Keiichirou’s eyes were opened anymore than they were, he’d probably be flushed up to the tips of his ears. “Keii-chan?”

“Uh… wh…” Keiichirou mumbles, his words slurred and Kairi has to laugh a little, because this is probably the first time the guy’s ever been pumped with drugs. “You… Kairi?”

“Oops! You caught me, officer.”

“What… are you…”

Kairi laughs, here, awkward and strained. These kinds of situations were ones he did _not_ excel in. He’s looking at anything but Keiichirou—the machines, to the linen, to the call button that must be to signal a nurse by his head, to the railing of the bed. Kairi simply refuses to look at Keiichirou, but when the guy laughs, wheezy and full of effort, he can’t help but look at him.

Keiichirou smiles behind his oxygen mask, and although his eyelids should be too heavy to open, he’s got them open, looking right at Kairi. “Did… you…” he pauses here, and while Kairi wants to tell him to shut up and rest, he doesn’t. Kairi waits for his words. “…come here… to check on me?”

_Oh,_ Kairi thinks, and then something clicks.

He clears his throat, brows pulling together because… _this is weird,_ he thinks. “No,” Kairi tells him, and then, word for word: “Not exactly.”

Keiichirou laughs weakly. He nods, closing his eyes. Kairi takes it as a signal that the moment is over—Keii-chan is asleep again, off in whatever fantasy he dreams of. Kairi takes a step back, his gaze never leaving the other’s face, when he speaks: “I… don’t mind.”

Kairi pauses, his heart racing. He bites his lip, bringing his foot back to where it had been moments before. “K…Keii-chan, you need to rest.”

Keiichirou hums in response. “Kai…chan? No, that’s…”

Kairi laughs, and a feeling comes to him, that he’s lost some battle he hadn’t known he’d been participating in. Not the one for the Collection pieces, or who would get to the Gangler’s first, or who would transform with Goodie; this was… entirely different.

“Keii-chan,” Kairi murmurs, softening at the hum that leaves the policeman. He lifts a hand, brushing the sweat-soaked bangs from Keiichirou’s forehead. Kairi bends down, bumping his forehead against the other’s and says, “What would you do… if I told you I was gonna steal your heart?”

“Huh…” Keiichirou sounds sleepier, and Kairi has to wonder if he’s going to remember this, by the time the poison leaves his body and his mind isn’t fogged by drugs. “Like… a thief?”

“No, no. As myself.”

Keiichirou’s laugh is weak, and he mumbles something that Kairi can’t make out, and it leaves him feeling lost. He blinks down at the policeman rapidly, straightening his spine as he does. Kairi shakes himself, staring wide-eyed at Keiichirou, who must have finally slipped back into unconsciousness.

“Remember, Keii-chan. You can’t die—you still have peace to uphold.”

***

_Why the rush?_

Even a week later, Kairi still thinks about what Blue had said.

Why had he rushed? Kairi pushed the reasons he knew to be true only to try to come up with new reasons. He rubs the heel of his hand against his forehead, a bit thankful that Jurer was as empty as an abandoned building; it meant that he could be in his head even if Umika growled that he was slacking off under her breath—and it’s then he wonders why she never got on Touma’s case. Where was that Blue bastard at, anyways?

Kairi groans, tilting his chair back—he’s so in his own thoughts that he doesn’t register the fact he’s tilting _too far_ back. It’s when the chair gives way to gravity that he realizes, and by then it is too late. Kairi yelps in surprise as he falls back, the wind knocked out of him. He groans, making no move whatsoever to get up; he squeezes his eyes shut, feeling like the world’s biggest _fool_ , and—

“K-Kairi?!” Keiichirou’s voice cuts through the silence of the room.

“Wha—?!” Kairi jolts in surprise, his face burning bright red because he _so_ did not hear the bell above the door ring upon the other’s arrival. “I—I—“ he scrambles up, rolling on all fours only to push himself up at the very same moment Keiichirou bends to help Kairi up.

It results in Kairi knocking his head against Keiichirou’s lips, and the _ending_ conclusion is a busted lip, blood dripping steadily onto the floor until Keiichirou slaps his hand over his mouth—which, really, looked like it hurt more than it did benefit him.

“Oh, _damn_ —!” Kairi gasps, frantic as he runs behind the kitchen to grab a fistful of napkins. He rushes into the dining area, shoving Keiichirou’s hands away to press the napkins against his wound. “ _Je suis désolé!_ ” he says, eyes wide as he finally looks at Keiichirou.

Was it just him, or were Keiichirou’s eyes… _smiling?_ If he thought about it, it kind of… felt like, under the napkins… he was _actually_ smiling.

“Uh…” Kairi laughs awkwardly, extracting his hands only for Keiichirou to reach out. He takes the bundle of blood stained napkins out of his hands, and Kairi makes the mistake of looking up. Keiichirou licks his lips, his tongue sticking out the tiniest bit to feel the cut on his bottom lip and Kairi has to immediately, as soon as he is able, _right now right now,_ look away. “Uh… I—I, what… coffee?”

“Sorry?”

“C-Coffee! Do you—coffee?” Kairi stumbles on his words. He opens his mouth to say more, only to clamp it shut and brush past Keiichirou, bee-lining for the kitchen. Kairi doesn’t wait for the other to speak; he simply moves his hands and wipes down the saucer and the handle to the small cup. When he glances up, Keiichirou is crouching onto the floor, using one of the clean napkins of the bundle to clean the tiny drops of blood on the floor.

Kairi bites his lip. He doesn’t know how to handle this situation.

When the coffee is done, Kairi wills his hands steady to carry it out to where Keiichirou is now sitting. “You—uh… you got released?”

Keiichirou takes a careful sip before nodding. He notes that it burns, just a bit. “Yes. I—yes.”

Silence overcomes easily, awkwardly. Kairi stands next to Keiichirou’s usual table, hands folded behind his back. Keiichirou simply sips his coffee every now and then, sometimes staring straight ahead and sometimes glaring into the liquid. Kairi presses his lips together in a fine line, contemplating whether or not he should make like a thief and disappear or stay where he stood rigidly.

He’s about to take a step back and turn on his heel when Keiichirou clears his throat. “Kairi… please, have a seat.”

“Uh… I… work here.”

Keiichirou tilts his head, raising a brow up at Kairi. “What does that have to do with anything?” he asks.

Kairi can feel his eyes widen, and he doesn’t mean to burst out laughing, but he does. “I—I mean, it’s—no, it’s nothing, uh—“ Kairi clears his throat and takes the few steps it takes to get to the chair that is right across from the other. He sits down and rests his hands in his lap.

“Do you want anything?”

“What?” Kairi says, and thinks, _what is this guy’s deal?_

“I mean—I asked you to sit. It’s only proper to ask. If you give me permission, I could also make you something.”

“N…o. No, I’m… okay.”

“Ah, okay.”

Silence settles once more.

Kairi becomes increasingly fidgety. He looks around the dining area, pointedly keeping his eyes from Keiichirou until the guy speaks.

“Were you… at the hospital?”

“Pardon?”

“The hospital,” Keiichirou says. “Last week. Were you at the hospital, Kairi?”

“Er… I don’t know—maybe.”

Keiichirou studies him closely, narrowing his eyes to fight the oncoming headache. The man in front of him was always like this— _always._ In the time since their paths have crossed, Kairi endlessly came across as sly and evasive, his expression more often than not informing everyone that he knew a joke that no one else knew about—but Keiichirou was _Sure,_ with a capital _S._ He sips his coffee again, and says, “I think… that you were.”

“Oh, Mr. Policeman? Were you dreaming about me?”

Keiichirou considers it—was it a dream, had it been a dream? “No,” he says, and to his surprise, Kairi’s eyes widen. “It wasn’t a dream. I know you were there. There is no way you were not.”

Kairi licks his lips. “Okay. I was. So, what are you going to present to me, with that information?”

“…Huh?”

“Do you remember anything?” Kairi asks, lifting his arms only to cross them across his chest.

“I don’t know,” Keiichirou sighs, a strange glint of mischief in his eyes. “Maybe.”

Kairi stares at him, trying his best to fight the heat that rises onto his face.

“What would you do, if I remembered?” Keiichirou asks.

_Smug bastard,_ Kairi thinks, and then says, “I wouldn’t mind.”

Keiichirou bites the insides of his cheeks to fight the smile trying to take over, and only partly fails. He clears his throat, finishing off the last of his coffee before standing up and smoothing over his uniform with his hands. By the time he is finished, Kairi is already out of his chair and behind the register. He walks over, fishing his wallet out of his pocket.

“Please, keep the change.”

Kairi gives a small smile, giving the other a deep nod before saying, “Hey… Keii-chan.”

Keiichirou stops in mid-turn, brows raised as he turns to face Kairi. He doesn’t expect Kairi to lean over the small space, extending a hand only to cup his cheek and press his thumb against the cut on his lip.

“Be careful out there, Keii-chan,” Kairi tells him, and then drops his hand. He returns the mischief Keiichirou had in full.

“You too,” Keiichirou says, spreading his hands out onto the counter. He leans in, and he wasn’t sure if Kairi had leaned in, or if he had already been this close. “Kai-chan.”

This time, when Keiichirou turns, he does so with the image of Kairi’s face turning redder than the color of his Patoranger suit. He shuts the door behind him, a bizarre sense of impishness settled upon him—but, he supposes that sometimes, it is necessary.

It comes to him when he’s a block away from Jurer—that he only remembered everything up until the point where he called Kairi ‘ _Kai-chan.’_

Keiichirou laughs, and decides to shrug it off because really… what Kairi didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading!! :3c
> 
> title is from "just what i needed" by the cars
> 
> alternate title:  
> eventually, i fall


End file.
